


Pain and Relief

by GaHoolianGirl



Series: The Technical Specifications of Love [1]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: About Data doing something nice for the best friend he's totes not in love with no waaaay, Best Friends, Data Has Android Emotions, Embarrassment, Even if still probably Not Correct, Friendship/Love, Geordi does a smidge of pining but it's mostly, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt/Comfort, It's minor though and I stuck to real words so it's... comprehensible, Jealousy, M/M, Massage, Other, SUPER briefly though right at the end, Technobabble, Those are correlated as you might have guessed, Though he isn't aware of it quite yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:34:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26627569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaHoolianGirl/pseuds/GaHoolianGirl
Summary: “I will be standing up and sitting on the edge of the bed,” he described his actions as he took them, something Geordi was grateful for. The ever thoughtful Data. Just as promised, the bed dipped slightly under Data’s weight, “I will be touching my fingers to your temples, and massaging them. Please inform me if it becomes painful or uncomfortable.”“Will doooooooooooooooooooooh-” all the air rushed out of Geordi’s lungs in a long breath. The pressure Data applied was, of course, just the right amount of strength, sending an instant wave of relief through the engineer’s system, “Right there, oh yeah,Data.”His friend could deny it until the cows came home to roost, but there was an undeniable note of pride in his voice as he spoke, “It is working, Geordi?”An encounter with an alien knocks Geordi unconscious, and when he wakes up, he has a splitting headache and can't use his VISOR. Data helps.
Relationships: Data/Geordi La Forge
Series: The Technical Specifications of Love [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1970848
Comments: 12
Kudos: 128





	Pain and Relief

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!! When I finished my last fic I felt my muse return and what a wonderful feeling that is. This is a little light in the "hurt" part if hurt/comfort but I'm a sap

Consciousness returned to Geordi slowly, like the tide lapping the sand, gradually filling his mind until he could register each sense- his fingers twitched, he heard the sound of his own breathing, smelled the familiar clean air of his quarters, but there was one notable guest missing from the party.

Sight.

Somehow his VISOR must have been removed. Normally, his first course of action would be to find it again, but in this instance, his head was overwhelmed with a throbbing pain that edged out all other thoughts. He sat up with a yelp, but felt a steady hand push firmly on his stomach to keep him from fully rising, gently leading him down to lie back- he was on his bed, and there was only one person whose reflexes were that quick.

“Data?” _Jeeze, my voice is hoarse. How long have I been out?_ he thought, pressing a tender finger to his temple in a vain effort to alleviate some of the pain he was feeling.

“Yes, it is me, Geordi,” there was a brief pause, and the quiet shuffle of something... metallic... a soft click, _must be a hypo,_ “Allow me to administer this hypospray of vertazine to alleviate the headache you must currently be experiencing, and then I will explain the situation to you.”

Still dazed, and more than slightly confused, Geordi groaned out a noise he hoped his friend could read as his assent, sighing deeply as he felt a familiar rush of relief when the hypo flooded his system. It wasn’t totally gone, but it was enough that he could think more clearly.

“Has your pain subsided at all?” Data asked him cautiously.

Geordi’s brow furrowed, in concentration “Yeah, a little... what happened? Last thing I remember, I was on the bridge, and...”

There was a gentle touch to his wrist that made him start, but he quickly relaxed, letting out a deep breath of air as relaxing back into his sheets, letting Data explain, “We came into contact with a species of creature that communicates strictly through strong, primarily electromagnetic, pulses. The strength of their signal caused your VISOR to quickly become overwhelmed, causing you to fall unconscious. The danger has passed, but Dr. Crusher has advised you to refrain from wearing your VISOR until we are certain there are no residual waves.”

If Geordi were being honest, he didn’t exactly mind not having to wear his visor for a few hours. The headaches had been getting pretty bad as of late, which is probably why it had been so easy for him to get overwhelmed, “How long until I’m in the clear?”

“I am uncertain. It will be difficult to differentiate the pulses from the standard amount of electromagnetic radiation present. We have elected to wait until the reading matches the levels we recorded in our last scan. We should have the results within the next three hours.”

So three sightless hours, eh? He could live with that, so long as the now dull pain in the back of his head _stayed_ dull.

“Say, Data,” he lifted an arm out where he approximated his friend might be. He was only off by a centimeter or so, his pinky brushing fabric; Data was courteous enough, as he always was, to adjust his position to allow Geordi to grip his arm, “Why am I in my quarters and not sick bay? And why are _you_ here?”

He heard the distinct, but quiet smacking of lips opening and shutting as Data considered what he would say. No one else probably would have heard it, but Geordi still liked to keep his other senses extra sharp for occasions when he’d be without his VISOR, just like this one, “Dr. Crusher had an appointment with a young child soon after the time you were estimated to awake-”

“Which was?”

“Around fourteen hundred hours. And so-”

“What time is it now?”

“Fourteen hundred twenty five hours. And so she was concerned about the possible high noise level affecting your recovery, and had you sent back to your quarters. Someone was needed to inform you of the circumstances, and I was best equipped for that job.”

“Thanks, Data.”

“Of course.”

Sighing, Geordi squeezed the artificial arm he held firmly before letting his hand fall onto his bed. He didn’t want Data to go- because he was always sad when Data left, and because it would be a lot easier to have someone around, but he didn’t want to hold his friend up from his duties, “You’re free to go if you’d like. I can handle myself for three hours.”

“I do not doubt that, Geordi, however-” Data cut himself off fully, speech halted unnaturally quickly and cleanly, like he had forcibly stopped his verbal programming. Concern coiled in Geordi’s gut, so he reached back out, more frantically this time, finding his hand grasping Data’s uniform pants.

“Data, are you alright?”

“Yes, I am fine Geordi. I... find myself in a situation I am unable to properly describe.”

Really worried now, Geordi forced himself to ignore the ache in his body to sit up, trailing his hand up Data until it found itself on the android’s shoulder, “What is it? I can’t help you with any diagnostics for a while, but if you give me an idea...”

He felt a synthetic hand come to rest over his own, “It is not of that nature, which is why I am at a loss. I found myself... not wishing to tell you the full truth. I have never _desired_ to lie to you before, Geordi. Nor do I see the harm in telling you what is on my mind. But I am unable to articulate my thoughts.”

“Data...” despite how truly confounded his friend sounded, Geordi couldn’t help but smile, “Data, that sounds like you’re embarrassed?”

He didn’t have to see to know that Data was shaking his head, “I do not wish to use emotional terminology, but I find that ‘embarrassment’ might be the most apt descriptor in this circumstance. There is a non zero, if still slim, percent chance that you would not have an entirely positive reaction to my words, and that is an outcome I do not want to occur. That has not impeded my function in such a manner before, but I can find no other logical explanation.”

Geordi pursed his lips in thought, “Well, if I give you a guarantee that no matter what you say I won’t be the least bit upset, would that help?”

“As you are well aware, one’s emotional responses are not always correlated with one’s words. However, I do believe I can tell you now. As I had begun to say, I am aware that you can take care of yourself, but I _want_ to assist you for the time being.”

That was not what Geordi was expecting, not that he had any expectations at all. It was a somewhat odd sentiment for Data, sure, who was caring and thoughtful but usually considered himself ill equipped for things like this, but it wasn’t something that would upset Geordi. In fact, he was _happy_ to hear it.

“That doesn’t upset me at all, Data! You’re my best friend, I don’t mind getting a little help from you.”

He felt Data relax ever so slightly under his touch, shoulder’s falling into a more neutral position, “I see. There was a concern that you would consider me to be ‘babying’ you, and I am aware how much you dislike being treated with overt delicacy when without your VISOR.”

“You aren’t babying me if you’re offering help when I actually _need_ it, Data. I said you could go because I _can_ handle myself, but that doesn’t mean I _should_ or _want_ to.”

“My continued presence would not be unwelcome?”

“Not at all- _ooof,_ ” Geordi groaned, hand flying to his forehead. Sitting up and talking as loudly as he did had induced a sharp stab of pain. Once again, he felt Data’s guide him back down to lying on the bed, and he felt better when his head hit the cool pillow, “See what I mean? Years of dealing with these headaches and I still run my mouth too much. You’d think I know better.”

“You were attempting to console me. My apologies.”

“No need to apologize, you didn’t force me to do anything, I made a bad choice,” Geordi bit his lip at another, though thankfully smaller, surge of pain, “Say, replicate me a glass of water?”

“Certainly,” the sound of Data’s footsteps had always been unique, methodical shuffles, one two, one two, natural enough if you didn’t stop to think about it too hard, “Cold or room temperature?”

“Room temp is fine.”

One two, one two, one two, and Data was back by his side, speaking to him quietly and gently, “If you would sit up, please?”

He did as instructed, sipping the water carefully as he heard and felt the shuffle of fabric behind him. When he put the glass down and leaned back, he felt that his pillows had been rearranged so he was slightly elevated. Damn, Data was worried he was overstepping, but like he was with anything he set his mind to-

-okay, maybe not humor-

-he was immediately excellent at it.

“Thanks, Data.”

“You are welcome, Geordi. There is something else I thought I might try, if you are amenable.”

“Shoot, it’s not like I’ve got anything to do for the next few hours.”

“I am not going to shoot-” Data said the words so quickly Geordi almost missed them. From time to time figures of speech still eluded the android, but he was getting much better catching on and course correcting before he was noticed.

“I will be standing up and sitting on the edge of the bed,” he described his actions as he took them, something Geordi was grateful for. The ever thoughtful Data. Just as promised, the bed dipped slightly under Data’s weight, “I will be touching my fingers to your temples, and massaging them. Please inform me if it becomes painful or uncomfortable.”

“Will dooooo _ooooooooooooooooh-_ ” all the air rushed out of Geordi’s lungs in a long breath. The pressure Data applied was, of course, just the right amount of strength, sending an instant wave of relief through the engineer’s system, “Right there, oh yeah, _Data._ ”

His friend could deny it until the cows came home to roost, but there was an undeniable note of pride in his voice as he spoke, “It is working, Geordi?”

“Wonders, Data. I’d ask where you learned this, but you probably have access to every manual on massage ever transcribed.”

“...curious. For a moment, I experienced a similar sensation to earlier, where there is something inconsequential I do not wish to inform you of.”

“What is- _oooh yeah-_ what is it?”

“This is not the first time I have employed this technique. I considered it a valuable skill to learn, in case such a time as this arose- where your VISOR caused you great pain and you needed to be functioning again as soon as possible- and so I wanted to test my theoretical knowledge on the art of massages. Counselor Troi occasionally feels physical pain in her temple as a result of her empathic powers, so she volunteered as a willing test subject.”

Ah. Well, this time he wasn’t wrong in that it did stir up a nasty feeling in Geordi, but it wasn’t anger at Data, it was far, far worse.

It was jealousy.

He beat the emotion back with an internal stick the best he could- after all, Deanna was Data’s friend too, _and_ he had said he was learning it to help Geordi. There was no need to be jealous. None at all.

Nope, no sir.

“This knowledge has upset you in some manner. Your body had become tense.”

“...sorry Data, don’t worry, it’s not your fault. Promise.”

“I do not think you are being honest with me, but since you are in pain, I will ‘drop it’ for now, and inquire again once you have fully recovered.”

Geordi had never been so grateful for a headache. He loved talking to Data, working through his struggles with humanity together, but he was not in the proper frame of mind to explain why that had made him jealous.

Confessions were best made with a clear head, after all.

“We’ll talk about it the next chance we get.”

“Very well.”

The conversation came to a halt then, the room filling with companionable silence. Slowly but surely, Data’s ministrations made Geordi’s eyelids feel heavy as rock, drowsiness gradually invading his consciousness. It was too early in the day to sleep, but the Enterprise could survive a few hours without her Chief Engineer, surely...

“You are welcome to sleep if you wish. I will wake you when the electromagnetic radiation scan has been completed.”

"Mhmmhmmm," the noise he made was supposed to be 'Thanks Data, I appreciate it' but not even the android with hypersensitive hearing could likely make it out.

The last thing he heard before he dozed off, head more free of pain that it had been for two weeks, was Data telling him, in a _'definitely not pleased with myself because I don't have emotions'_ tone of voice, "Sweet dreams, Geordi."•

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought! 
> 
> Feel free to hit me up on tumblr @ maid-of-the-golden-deer.


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